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Friday, 29 June 2012

Andi Weimann has admitted he is hoping to be given a chance to prove himself at Aston Villa under new manager Paul Lambert, who took over from Alex McLeish at the end of last season after impressing with Norwich.

The young striker emerged as an exciting prospect towards the closing stages of a dismal season for Villa, scoring two goals that proved instrumental to the club avoiding relegation

He was given a chance in the first team following a number of injuries to rival forwards as the club struggled their way over the line at the end of a season they’ll want to soon forget.

Thursday, 21 June 2012

Spain head coach, Vicente del Bosque, has admitted that his
side are feeling the strain from playing so many games in quick succession. The
defending European champions recently booked their place in the semi-finals
with a victory against France.

The Spanish will have just three days before they take on
Portugal in their last-four clash, which will no doubt take it out of a squad
that looked jaded during their victory against the French.

While Spain controlled nearly every aspect of their 2-0
victory, thanks to a brace from Xabi Alonso, the pace of the game was played at
walking pace, as both sides began to tire.

Thursday, 14 June 2012

German forward, Lukas Podolski, has written off Poland’s
chances of beating Germany, if the two sides come up against each other in the
quarterfinals. The football betting tips from Bet Victor are likely to be
equally pessimistic, concerning Poland’s hopes of success.

Podolski, who is set to join Arsenal next season, was born
in Gliwice, Poland, and will be cheering on his home nation this weekend,
"I will watch the Poland game against Czech Republic [Saturday] and have
my fingers crossed for them, but if we play against them in the quarter-finals,
they will lose," he said.

The last time that Germany met Poland in a major tournament
was at Euro 2008, when Podolski scored both of their goals in a 2-0 win.

If the two sides meet again in this tournament, then you can
expect the same ruthless efficiency from Podolski, who is keen to make up for a
quiet start to the tournament, by his standards. "I expect a lot from
myself and will do more offensively," he said.

Podolski is set to make his 100th appearance for Germany, in
their Group B game against Denmark, on Sunday, and he knows that a win or draw
will secure qualification from the group stages.

Despite his wealth of international experience Podolski is
still only 27-years old, and he feels that he has plenty more to achieve in a
German shirt.

“I feel very comfortable in the German team, and I hope it
will go on like this," he explained. "I am very proud of myself but
the statistics do not mean that much to me. In my career, I have other
goals."

Having looked comfortable in their first two games, it is
hard to see the Germans being troubled by Denmark and, if Podolski can add to
his tally of 43 international goals, their place in the quarterfinals should be
assured.

Monday, 4 June 2012

The England fans and press never really believed Roy Hodgson’s assertion that Rio Ferdinand was
dropped for ‘footballing reasons’, but were prepared to accept it for now as
attention switched towards the impending European Championships.

But as the steady succession of England players pulled out
through injury, with Ferdinand still excluded, it became increasingly obvious that
the Manchester United man was left out for political reasons.

Poor old Martin Kelly is the innocent victim in this, but his
call-up in place of Gary Cahill means that Hodgson will struggle to justify
those footballing reasons given Kelly only made 12 appearances for Liverpool last
season and has little over 10 minutes of live football in an England shirt under his belt.

It is clear Ferdinand was dropped due to the simmering feud
between himself and John Terry, who is to stand trial later this year accused
of racially abusing Ferdinand’s brother Anton.

It is an issue that Hodgson has been lumbered with and one
he really shouldn’t have. The FA are the masters of their downfall in all of
this.

They stripped Terry of the captaincy in February over the issue, causing
Fabio Capello to quit, but in my view they should have gone further, telling Terry
he would not be selected while this court case was hanging over him (though why
this has dragged on for so long I don’t know – the incident happened in October).

Instead we have this almost farcical situation whereby
Hodgson is choosing everyone BUT Rio Ferdinand, who is effectively being
punished for the actions of Terry, who– by accident or design – is being protected
by the FA.

If Terry and Ferdinand don't get on because of the impending court case, why should the one who is actually standing trial stay in the squad?

And herein lies the truth; if Hodgson had to choose, it is clear he sees Terry as the better player to have in the squad than Ferdinand (footballing reasons after all!), and given how sensitive footballers' egos are, Rio won't have taken that well

Throw in the likes of Micah Richards and Michael Carrick,
who refused to be on the standby list for their country, and it paints a sorry
tale of English international football. All it needs is a group stage exit for
the game to fall back into its usual state of crisis –if it isn’t already.

Even if Ferdinand’s gone he won’t be forgotten and the
manner of his exclusion will not go down well with his teammates and friends
who are on the plane to Poland, meaning those divisions Hodgson was so desperate
to avoid could open up anyway.

By dealing with this issue
in such a clumsy manner the FA have made Hodgson’s job 10 times worse and once
again given the media licence to distract the attention away from matters on
the pitch to dealings off it.